Thankam (2023) :
Brief Review -
A cowardly crime drama, but that's the life of some middle-class people who have more courage than rich people. Thankam is a crime drama, a murder mystery actually, with a cowardice motive revealed in the climax, but you don't know, or maybe you know, that's the life of some people. Some lower- and middle-class people try too hard throughout their whole lives but still can't make enough money. Some carry debts for a long time and then bury themselves underneath that load. Thankam is about that pressure, that load, and how one middle-class man finds a getaway through it. The point isn't reasonable enough, but like I said, it's life for some people, so it's damn realistic for that chunk of people. Society may call them cowards and losers, but they have the courage to take their lives. Will any rich man have enough courage to do so? I know, that doesn't make any sense. Why would any rich man have to take his life when he has everything in his life? That's why this film would look illogical to a certain section of people, and that's perfectly alright. It deserves some hate for the point that it tries to make, as it might harm the entire point of living life and fighting for it. The film is about two gold brokers, Muthu and Kannan, trying to make more money than they need for a subpar life. They travel to Mumbai for a gold deal, and after that, Kannan disappears. The police have a tough time finding Kannan's whereabouts and what lies ahead of them. Since it's a murder mystery, I don't think I should give away any more plot details. The screenplay is a bit slow in the first half, and then the second half is somewhat pacy. Its length is a major issue here, but the performances of Biju, Vineeth, Aparna, and Girish Kulkarni have recovered a lot of losses here. The key factor is missing in Saheed Arafath's direction, but somewhere down the line, you are bound to feel a little sentimental about the whole thing even if you don't like it.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.